Greetings from the Salton Sea: Folly and Intervention in the Southern California Landscape, 1905-2005

by Kim Stringfellow

The Salton Sea is a man-made catastrophe, redolent with the smell of algae and decomposing fish. Nevertheless, the lake's vast, placid expanses continue to attract birdwatchers, tourists and artists. In Greetings from the Salton Sea , photographer Kim Stringfellow explores the history of California's largest lake from its disastrous beginnings—the "sea" was formed when Colorado River levees broke and spilled into a depression 280 feet below sea level—to its heyday as a desert paradise in the 1950s and its current state as an environmental battleground.

Like the 400-plus species of birds that use the lake as a halfway point in their annual migration, developers flocked to the water they planted palm trees, built golf courses, and hired showstoppers such as the Beach Boys to perform at area resorts. These days, politicians seek to redirect the lake's only source of replenishment—agricultural runoff from surrounding farms—to water golf courses and green lawns elsewhere. Greetings from the Salton Sea 's photographs capture the war among policymakers, environmentalists, developers, and the individuals still living along the lake's shores. As Stringfellow aptly documents, it is a war for water and, ultimately, for existence.

136 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

Reviews

[Steve]

Just to lay it out there…I’m obsessed with the Salton Sea. Obsessed. I’ve done quite a bit of reading on the subject over the past ten years through a variety of sources, most of which are not reputable. Wikipedia is heavily involved here. So certainly not scholarly. However, I’ve gained enough to get a good sense of the sea, its history and its issues. This book does a good job of covering an interesting (to me) subject. But I don’t think it does as good a job as it could. Essentially, this is a photo essay with some backstory provided for color. What makes the Salton Sea fascinating is the promise of paradise, shaken up with some ecological disasters but still pending on the cliff of what could have been and what could still be. There is that element that the future doesn’t have to be dark for the sea and its neighboring residents. It is, conveniently, a fascinating place to take some pictures. It’s a ghost town due to a chernobly-esque ecological meltdown, minus the radiation and other dangers, making it accessible and for those with strong constitution, livable. Ms. Stringfellow provides an excellent photographic review of the Sea – the dingy side of the Sea at least. However, there is a beauty to the land and sea that I believe is ignored in favor of the shock-factor pictures. Accompanying the photo essay is a review of the history of the Sea’s creation and its cautionary ecological tale. Included is also a nice afterword from 2011 addressing the outcome of some legislation mentioned in the original 2004 text. Overall, a nice summary of Sea, its history and the politics behind its future. Essentially, a brief overview with great picture for a casual observer. Something that can be reviewed and dissected in under 2 hours.

So…why the 3 stars. I have a multitude of problems here. If the topic weren’t so fascinating (to me) this would probably be two stars. Issue #1. The text is poorly edited. I found at least three grammatical errors (i.e. missing word in a sentence), which, frankly, can’t happen in 30 pages of text that is being included to frame the pictures. Issue #2. The text is fairly factual and historical. Therefore it is drier than it needs to be. All this information can be gleaned in overview format via the sites I have mentioned above. I don’t think the book taught me anything new per se. It wrapped it up nicer, but that’s about it. The opportunity lost here is the engagement of the folks who’s lives revolve around the Sea. My recollection is that there was a lack of interviews and quotes from locals. There are people who bought into the dream in the 1960’s and are living out their lives still waiting for the fruition. Their stories must be fascinating. There’s room here to share them that is lost. Issue #4. As a photographic essay this would make a tremendous coffee table book. A larger book with crisp clear pictures would be great. I’d proudly display it (in 5 years when my kids grow enough that I can confirm they wouldn’t use it as a slide). The small size, while great for commuting, lacks the display that could make it so much better. There is one picture that comes to mind where the focal point is an old sign or tower. However, the focal point is shoved in the middle of two pages – nearly impossible to see and appreciate without breaking the spine of the book. With a large 8x10 format, this issue doesn’t happen. Issue #5. As mentioned in paragraph one, Ms. Stringfellow is only capturing one side of the story. Sure there is a lot of debris and decay. Between the dead fish and the dilapidated buildings there are countless items that draw the eyes attention. From behind a lens, however, without the olfactory assault of algae and decaying fish, there is a beauty for the beholder. This is lacking representation here. The Sea, the beach and the mountains behind are picturesque. All my wife keeps says as we look at our own pictures is how beautiful the place is. If memory serves, this was glazed over in the pictures in favor of rotting trailers. The trailer should be there, but so too should the beauty (not that the trailer isn’t beautiful in its own right). Prior to visiting, my recollection of the Salton Sea was, “this place is amazing – why is it decaying?” And then I saw the pictures of the dead fish. I could grasp a little more why its in its state. Pictures can’t convey the smell – that has to be experienced. But I really feel she could have framed the beauty to juxtapose against the desolation.

It’s not all grim, for the book at least. For the Sea, yes, it is pretty grim. As I said, a great overview, particularly for someone looking for history and seeking a better set of sources than Jimmy Wales and his Wikipedia army (whom I love dearly, by the way). From a book perspective as well, the construction is great and the quality of the paper is phenomenal, especially in contrast to my mass-market copy of Dorian Gray, which once again plays second fiddle to a newer book. In addition, as a quick read/review…you can breeze through it again without taking up half your life – and it’s great for parties when you find it on someone’s shelf and don’t feel like talking to anyone. Not that I’ve ever done that (don’t judge me). The error here is in the presentation. Either make it a book with greater information and pictures, or go all out and make it a coffee table book. This fell somewhere in between and makes it feel like too many corners were cut.

So, my own Salton Sea story: Back in Grad School we had a ridiculous project involving Supply-Chain management. The crux of the problem was to place 3 distribution plants in the Western US (California, AZ, NM, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington) in which they could service all the cities with a population of 100,000 persons. The catch was, they needed to service the same amount of cities, couldn’t be within 50 miles of a 100,000 city and you couldn’t have the center service a city that was closer to another center. Due to the cluster-fuck of “cities” in Southern California, this was virtually impossible. I spent hours with mapping software (this was 2003 or so) measuring distances trying to find the correct balance. In the end, the solution was the Salton Sea. It’s the only place I could find that could service the Southern California locations and not be within 50 miles of an area of population. It also had to be far south so another center could be located in Northern California to balance the amount of cities. I believe part of the project was that this was centered on toxic waste, which is fitting given the Salton Sea! Anyway, the desert surrounding the Salton Sea was the key to the whole project, although this took hours to figure out. In addition, stumbling upon the Salton Sea lead me to hours of time-wasting research (I had a time-wasting type of job at the time) into the Sea, its history and the ghost towns around it. At one point, a couple years later I think, I found a photo-essay site of someone’s day trip to Salton City – with all its laid out streets and services, but no people, just lots of dead fish. I found the whole thing fascinating. This past October when we booked our travel plans to Palm Springs, I told my wife that she could have all the time she wants obsessing over Mid-century modern architecture, but I wanted one day at the Salton Sea. I really wanted to see the dead fish, the ghost towns and the curiosity of the off-shoot Slab City. My wife, who is equally, if not more obsessive over weird places and particularly loves ghost towns was jumping out of her seat by the time we reached the North Shore. This isn’t surprising per se. However, considering she knew nothing about it before we left the house that morning and she openly announced she’d rather spend another day trying to see what’s beyond the gate at Sinatra’s former house, it was a big step. So, one very long day of driving, multiple stops to see decay and dead fish, two questionable meals and two very tired children later, we had completed our journey. I wish we had more time. I don’t believe Salton City got its due being last on our agenda and arriving just before dusk. For Christmas, not surprisingly, I was gifted this book, along with three Salton Sea movies/documentaries. Although I do believe the wife was more interested in watching the movies herself, it was thoughtful purchase, particularly the book, since I’m not sure she knows how to read.

[matt peacock]

Information about the creation and history of the Salton Sea followed by great photos.

[Darrel]

A compact book that briefly covers a century of history of the Salton Sea, containing minimal textual content which is augmented significantly by many plates, spotlighting byproducts of the many failed commercial developments around the shore. The author also includes details of past restoration projects and proposed restoration plans for the future.

Because it is by design a pictorial book there are no captions accompanying the photos as you page through it. The captions are found near the back of the book with thumbnails of each image so readers can easily match them. A quick, breezy read; the photos are sure to be seen as a mix of both shocking and beautiful by most everyone.

[Xavier]

This gives a cursory account of the history of the Salton Sea in southern California. What draws me to the idea of this salty lake is the mythology of the arises around it: the mythology of westward expansion, rural development's beautiful mistakes, the cold war, 1950s car culture, nature preservation, naive entreprenurialism, and perhaps a scattering of other elements that play into the southern California landscape. It's ugly yet alluring at the same time, maybe like an octagenarian stripper. This is a short read, and the photos are fantastic.

[Pablo]

Just saw this in this nice little bookshop called Balfour. Leslie and I had stopped by to check out this show: [http://akimbo.biz/events/index.php?id...] and spent awhile looking around. it gets props from rebecca solnit, so am curious.

[Jill]

Wowsa, a clear-cut and plainly presented representation of the mishaps of humans in the 20th century with the environment. All in all, a disturbing representation of mankind and the potential future we face.

[John]

Great photographs of the Salton Sea. I especially love the still lifes created using collected materials fromt the seaside. Captures well the enigmatic quality of the area. Visceral like the sea itslelf.

[Joe]

Great images, but the across the fold design layout took this book from 4 stars to 3. A prime example for book designers of how not to do it.

[Amber]

Fantastic images of a land only recently forgotten, but one abandoned with such fervor that its feels as though this spot on Earth is just the first to wither and die -- a portent of the fall of man.